To Hell and Back Again
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Saguru had only just returned to Japan when an untimely visitor arrives, bringing dangers worse than he's ever faced. There are shots in the darkness. Weighing one life over another, Saguru must watch Kid choose to break his own vows or die.


I'm addicted to Oneshots XD I can't seem to write my longer stories  
>*I'll try and work on that*<p>

And I know I write a lot of stories like this one... ^_^; I'll also try and work on that as well

* * *

><p><strong>To Hell and Back Again<strong>

There were few things that really got Saguru angry. It was seldom that he ever reached the point that he was outrightly verbal about whatever it was that was causing his ire. Currently, he found himself muttering angrily to no one in his study, while passing back and forth in search of something that kept slipping his mind every time he went to retrieve it.

The plane ride back to Japan had been one of the most infuriating ordeals of his life. He had had to suffer through a child next to him, screaming to his mother about how he was feeling ill. Then the boy had thrown-up in front of him instead of going to the washroom. Saguru had to sit there while a flight attendant came and cleaned it up since the only way he could have exited his seat was if the people in front of him moved and he climbed over their seats.

That was insufferable, but it wasn't what overly-annoyed him, though it did make him nauseous the rest of the ride back. Another small drop in the pond was that, after he arrived in the terminal, he was stopped by security for a routine check. That had surprised him a bit but it wasn't as if he was in a rush to be anywhere.

Having had his luggage searched through and put back haphazardly, he went outside to wait for Baaya to come with the car. It had been raining in Japan either the night before or earlier that morning, judging by how wet everything was.

Upon crossing the gap that separated him from where Baaya pulled over, he soon discovered that commuters didn't have much need to pay attention to the wet ground as one zoomed in front of him to get past before he could cross, soaking the bottom of his slacks in water and whatever other liquids had formed on the street.

No. Today had been nothing but one big headache after another. The car, as expected with how his day had been going, ran out of gas just as they exited the terminal. Baaya was forgetful of commonplace things but he didn't like to argue with her. He'd had to take a cab to the nearest gas station and then back to the car where she had waited for him. While pouring the gas, he'd gotten some on his shoe which was currently outside so that the smell wouldn't be brought into the house.

He was wet, tired, and in an ill mood while he paced around, once again forgetting what it was that he'd been after.

If Kid thought he could make his day any worse, bring it on.

The thief barged into his house as if he owned the place, slamming the door shut and making the noise of it crash through the house. Both of them stared at one another, startled.

"When did you-?" But Kid was cut off as two small holes appeared in his door. "Damn it!" The thief grabbed him by the arm before Saguru could make heads or tails of what was going on. Part of his mind was still aimlessly wondering around itself to figure out what it was that he'd been after, ignoring what looked to be a dire situation in front of him. He blamed his lack of focus on everything that he'd already been through that day.

Kid threw open another door, this one to the dinning room, and slammed it shut, locking it behind them. "Is there anyone else here with you?" The thief asked in exasperation.

"No, I was dropped off." Baaya had her own home to go to, though she did work for him, or more accurately, his father, during the day. "What are you doing in my house?" Saguru wasn't sure why he was asking but it seemed a fair question, if not the first one that he should have put to his intruder.

"I didn't think you were home and I needed somewhere safe. Damn it." The Kid looked worried, his hand tensing and unfurling into a fist. "Why did you have to come back now?"

That seemed a silly question to ask in response. Saguru could come home whenever he wished. Kid had never shown any indication to any differences towards his presence before. He'd assumed the thief didn't care much if he joined in on a heist or not. Really, he didn't hold the same vigor at chasing Kid that he had in the beginning due to that fact that he found himself not caring whether or not the thief escape. It was a fun game, that was all. He shied away from the criminal after that, afraid he's start feeling the same neutrality towards others that he had to pursue in favor of justice.

"Oi, Hakuba-san," Kid narrowed his eyes at him, though he couldn't see much of the thief's face under the brim of his hat. "What's the matter with you?"

Saguru shook his head, trying to get his mind back in order. Gods he was tired. "Wait." He through about it for real now, taking into account what had happened just moments ago. "What's going on?"

"We have to get out of here. Now... but-" Kid looked around the room, staring longer at the windows than any of the furnishings. "I'm not sure how many people were following me or if they already got around to the other side of the house."

"Who's following you?" Saguru was still trying to get his mind around the fact that the thief was in front of him right now, in arms reach. He could... "The police?"

"If it were the police I would hardly have taken you with me, now would I detective?" Kid sneered, anger lashing out at him like it never had before. Kid had never let himself show anything more than utter carelessness in all the times he had seen him. Something was wrong. He should have figured that out the moment the kaitou grabbed his arm instead of the other way around.

"I take it that these people are dangerous." Saguru back away from the windows, realizing why Kid had been watching them. "Why bring them to my place?"

"I- didn't- think- you- were- home." Kid slowly enunciated each word, as if to a child. "I just needed a few seconds. If you hadn't have been here..."

_I could have escaped._

The words weren't said but Saguru knew they would have followed if Kid hadn't stopped. So what? Now the thief was blaming _him_ for being inside _his own house?_ Saguru shook his head, backing up so he was almost next to Kid as they both watched around them, listening.

"So what now?"

"I don't know."

Saguru turned to him, surprised to hear words such at those ever escape the Kid's lips. "You don't know?"

"I wasn't planning on you being here! How many times do I have to say it?" Kid spat again. The anger was practically boiling under the thief skin, now that Saguru was watching.

"Who are they?" It was, again, a logical question, if not the one he should have asked. Getting out of his house, and soon, seemed pretty damn important but Kid was more shaken up than he'd ever seen him. Again, his mind went back to a place he'd tried not to let it wander.

Kuroba. Kid was Kuroba. The other teen had never admitted it - gone out of his way to prove that it wasn't him - but Saguru knew. The only problem was that this was coming from his heart, not his head. His head had already seen Kid and Kuroba in the same place at the same time, so logically it couldn't be him. His heart told him there was no way that it _wasn't _him.

"They're dangerous. That's all you need to know." Kid wouldn't look at him but his felt the thief tense up, more at being near him than the danger outside. "I'd say that you should try and hide while I escape on my own, but I can't say they won't go looking into your house after I've been in it."

"Just who have you brought to my doorstep? Don't I have a right to know?" He turned on the kaitou who was, and yet couldn't be, his classmate of the last few months. "Just what is going on and why is it that I shouldn't be calling the police right now?"

"It will be too little too late, but by all means, call them. It will at least stop these guys from raiding your house for a while." Kid closed his eyes, thinking. It left the thief wide open, showing Saguru just how dangerous the situation was. The Kid had left himself vulnerable to him, with his thoughts only on the people outside. They were so dangerous that Kid didn't care about being arrested.

"I'd like to say I have a trap door or something but I don't." Saguru felt the fear that had been fought off with confusion start to enter his body.

Kid bared his teeth, another sign of aggression that Saguru had never seen before - and didn't like. When Kid wasn't smiling that stupid grin of his that made him look like a circus performer, he looked like nothing more than a wild animal. Eyes hidden, claws outstretched under silk and cotton, Saguru was glad that he wasn't on the opposing side of this person at that particular moment.

"We'll have to try a window before they regroup and come at us unified." Kid tipped his head to the room next door, the kitchen widow not having a clasp on it to escape out of quietly. The library was in the room that Kid was indicating too and Saguru nodded. The window there folded almost halfway up. They'd be able to get out far more quietly than breaking one of them.

He followed the thief into the other room. It was bizarre that he shouldn't be the one leading, but Kid had to get to the widow first since he was sure the other had better eyesight. Kid wouldn't have gotten as far as he has without having good night vision and Saguru had been inside his house in the artifical lighting for more than an hour now.

Kid didn't even bother doing more than checking directly outside the window before sliding it open faster than Saguru ever could have. The thief was out and onto his lawn in seconds, hand reaching in to help him out as well. Against his own revulsion, he took it. Accepting the thief's help was something he did not want to do.

Of course, all thoughts of how his morals were being turned against him fell from his mind. A searing hot pain in his shoulder took care of that. Saguru couldn't help screaming, trying to bit back on the noise.

Kid's eyes flashed to him like lightning, catching the glow from inside the house. In the next instant he was being dragged away by his other arm, fighting just to stay on his feet.

Saguru knew what had happened. He'd been shot.

His brain forgot all about trying to figure out what had brought Kid to his doorstep, who these men after him were, _what the heck he'd been looking for before all this started happening_ - and was focused solely on survival. The person in front of him had the right frame of mind and the ability to fight against these people in the shadows, so he'd stick with him. There was also the possibility of running off once they were far enough away, and getting as far away from the target of these people as he could get.

It wasn't as if his house were in the middle of nowhere. Kid had run in the back where Saguru had spent time on a small garden. There were trees and flowers, stone paths and even a small pond he'd had dug up. That didn't mean the fence that separated his house from that of the person who lived behind him wasn't there.

Kid stopped dead, trying his best to hide them behind the bushes that surrounded that edge of the fence.

"Can you climb it?" Kid asked him, eyes hard.

Saguru could still feel the burning pain as if someone had taken an red-hot piece of metal and shoved it into his skin, letting it remain there. He could barely stand running with his arm hanging as motionless at his side as he could get... climbing was out of the question.

Kid must have seen the answer in his eyes- or it could have been the pained looked he must have given him.

"You're going to have to jump then." Kid knelt down so his back was against the fence. "Get on my shoulders and get over as quickly as you can."

Saguru stared at him, astonished for a moment, before nodding. He stood in front of the Kid, raising his foot and then hesitating. This felt so wrong. He shouldn't be working with the Kid. He'd assisted the other before- but that had been Kuroba. He'd called _Kuroba_ on the phone, not Kid. He'd made sure that, if it were his classmate, he was safe. Kid didn't have to be the same idiot in school who he had an insatiable need to protect. Kuroba, he may have been able to work with, but some part of him still wasn't sure who this person was, and an even more confused part of him still didn't understand what was going on and just wanted to stop and figure it out. Doing that now would be deadly.

"Get on already. I'll be up right after." Kid held out his hand. "Try at least."

Saguru nodded, preparing himself. He took Kid's hand while he steadied himself on the thief's shoulder. The part of his costume that held his cape would dig into the other's skin the minute he put any weight on him. Kid saw the hesitation as he was watching him and frowned. "Just do it."

Right. He'd just have to get this over with. He tested his other leg for a minute before pushing all of his weight on the thief, feeling the other brace himself against it. He'd have given Kid a chance to accustom himself to it, but he had to use the momentum to swing his other arm up and grab the top of the fence. He was thankful that he'd chosen plain wood planks instead of spikes, though he'd wished he'd made them shorter.

Pushing most of his weight on top of the fence and feeling Kid help him the rest of the way over, Saguru had to clench his teeth shut with ever small movement that he made that hit his arm. He had to push himself up on one side and let his injured side fall first, holding on so that he would land on his feet.

Kid didn't take half the time he did, mounting the fence with no aid and landing softly in the grass beside him. "Come on!" The thief hissed, once again grabbing onto his good arm and dragging him off in the direction of the street.

"Why? They didn't-" But Saguru didn't have to finish. He could already hear large footfalls following in their wake and the gruff voices of several men shouting orders to each other.

"Where are we going?" Saguru tried to ask in the quietest voice he could while his words would still carry.

"I don't know. I'm planning on moving until we lose them." Kid darted one way, the sudden change in direction straining his arm.

The screech of tires soon followed as they took another quick turn, this one putting them back in the direction they'd been heading, if not one street over.

"I don't think you can outrun a car," Saguru panted, feeling his fear and panic wear him down just as quickly as his weariness started to take back over.

"I could. You can't. There's a difference," Kid said, throwing a grin over his shoulder. With distance no longer an issue and his mind already working on adrenaline, he noticed more about the thief than he ever had before. He was a brunette, that was for sure. The thief's hair was mostly hidden but he could see streaks of brown when the light hit the black in the darkness. As he turned to face him, Saguru could also tell that the kaitou had dark eyes. He couldn't tell for sure what shade they were, only that they matched with the night around them.

He took time to mull over those facts for a while instead of the ones that he'd rather not worry on. Kuroba matched all the data he'd gathered and now the physical features he could see on Kid had a possibility of also matching. He'd been right... hadn't he?

"Mind out of the clouds, detective" Kid laughed as they turned another corner, slightly out of breath. Saguru's own breathing had sped up to pants as the pain kept reminding him that it was there.

Slipping behind an apartment complex, Kid jumped onto a dumpster that was leaning against a brick wall. The thief held out his hand to him once more and Saguru was surprised when the same bitter-sweet sickness that had first come upon him for accepting the thief's assistance did not come again.

Once over the bin and sitting on the wall to make the jump to the ground shorter, Saguru shook his head. He was panting hard and his arm hurt worse than he ever thought possible... and he'd never been shot before. He hadn't thought it could hurt so badly.

"Come on," Kid jumped down, holding his hand out. "We have to keep moving."

"I can't." Saguru shook his head in defeat. Even with his life riding on their flight, he didn't have the strength to keep up this pace.

Kid's eyes turned fearful for a moment and Saguru felt dread creep across him as well. He looked around but didn't see the men that were chasing them yet. He looked back down at Kid, the fear still in his eyes, though now it was hidden behind something closer to what Saguru was used to seeing. What had scared him?

Kid lowered his hand. "I can try to draw them off in another direction but you have to move. Call the police and get somewhere safe."

"I don't have my phone." His eyes lit up. _That_ was what he'd been looking for! He'd misplaced his phone after he'd gotten back to the house.

Kid's shoulders went up in something that might have been anger, his head lowering so Saguru couldn't see his teeth this time. Then the thief let out something that might have been a laugh. "It figures." Kid's eyes were back on him, head back out. "I promise I'll find somewhere safe for you, but you have to get down."

Saguru sighed, feeling all the pain and weariness eat at him as he bent forward to take the offer and jumped down, legs only half catching him when he landed. Kid was at his side and supporting him so he didn't fall.

The thief watched him, wasting a few precious seconds for Saguru to catch his breath before dragging him off once more. He felt his legs as they burned, focusing hard on trying to keep himself moving. If he stopped now, he had a sickening feeling that he wouldn't be the only one to die. It was something that Kid alluded to, even without words. It was something that Saguru had felt once, a month ago from the thief, even after Kid was long gone and he was left with nothing but a dead man and a lot of questioning. That need to protect.

After turning a few more corners, it was obvious they hadn't lost their tails. Kid tried to keep them ahead of whoever it was after them, but they were always close. At one point, Saguru was able to hear the footstep right behind him.

He finally gave up, collapsing into an alley. Kid turned on him, cornered animal expression up for a moment before it fell back under caution and control.

"Hakuba-san, you need to get up." Kid was at his side, hand already trying to help him back on his feet.

"Can't..." He panted. That was it. He'd gone as far as he could. Kid tried but he couldn't stay on his feet. He was just so tired and everything hurt, even though the wound itself was small.

"Come on. You have to try. Here," Kid took Saguru's arm as he knelt down and put it over his shoulder. "I'll carry you."

"No." He did his best to push the thief away. "You're..." He paused, unsure enough not to continue. Kid... was Kuroba. He was right. He was right... But what if he wasn't. His argument, then, would be pointless and only waste time. He had to be right. "You're not... strong enough... to carry me... And you'll... be too slow..."

Kid looked back at him as if that statement were laughable. "I'm certainly faster than you would be if I left you here, now hold on." Kid took his arm back and put around himself, grabbing his legs were he was kneeling. It was a struggle, but Kid got him up, jostling him around so that he'd be able to run better.

"Don't let go." It was all the warning Kid gave before taking off wherever it was the thief thought they were going to find shelter. Saguru didn't have much energy to fight him on it, barely had enough to keep holding on. Of the two, Kid had the harder job and he was not going to die just because he couldn't keep his grip for a few minutes.

And the minutes dragged on. He wasn't sure just how many because he focus was so bad, but he knew it had been a few minutes too many by the way Kid was panting as he rested for a second on the side of one of the many nameless buildings they were passing.

"You can't.-"

"Shut up!" Kid growled, fixing him better on his back once more before taking off again.

_Yes_, Saguru smiled to himself, he'd been right. He was practically leaning up against Kuroba's wild hair as he ran, could feel that the person carrying him was small. If it wasn't Kuroba, it was another teen, and there weren't that many out there who had the same knack for magic and mischief.

Kid was panting hard, his footfalls more thuds on the hard concrete they the swift pads they normally were. Even Saguru could tell how taxing carrying him was on the other.

Kid had to stop, bending over and falling onto one leg so that he could breath.

"Put me down," Saguru ordered, letting his hand fall in between Kid's shoulder-blades.

"No!..." Kid continued to try and breath regularly, but it wasn't going to happen.

"You can't get away with me weighing you down. Forget it."

"Never! Please, just a little longer?" Kid tried to look back at him, mouth hanging partially open at he took in air and his hair slicked onto his skin with sweat.

Saguru smiled, forcing Kid to break his hold and letting himself rest against the wall. "You're killing yourself," Saguru teased with what little energy he still had himself. "Go before they catch up."

But Kid wasn't listening to him and hadn't been since he'd forced him to let go. Kid stood, reaching into his coat and pulling out a gun that Saguru hadn't seen before, though he'd heard of it enough times. Kid's main weapon was supposed to be this toy, ammo only that of playing cards - be them altered with or not. They were still just cards and it was still just a plastic gun.

"Go you idiot." He kicked a foot out weakly. Kid couldn't be seriously thinking of taking these people on with only that and his tricks? It was insane. It was why the thief had been running in the first place.

"I'm not going to leave you behind." Kid walked a foot away from him, taking up a stance that showed he was preparing himself for anything and ready to stand his ground. It also separated Kid and him enough that any shots fired wouldn't be hitting him.

"You can't be serious," Saguru said, with only a mild pause where his breath caught.

Kid still hadn't caught his, his body moving more in time with his breathing than it was the controlled stance that he knew Kid wanted it to be. The thief looked torn, his eyes steady but his heart obviously in opposition to his head.

"You know you're being stupid. Go." Saguru let his eyes remain closed longer with each blink. He didn't know how much longer he could stand being awake but he wasn't about to sleep and let Kid be killed for some ignoble cause such as trying to save his life when they both knew that there was no way the thief was going to win. "You'll just be throwing your life away."

Kid turned to watch him. There was a glow in the thief's eyes that told him that he knew _exactly_ what it was that he was doing, and what would come of it. Even knowing it was Kuroba, or at least someone like him under that mask, he never for once thought what a stupid, chivalric fool Kid could be. There was commonsense and then there was idiocy.

"How much further?" Saguru whispered under his breath. Kid blinked his eyes for a moment, confused at where his question was aimed. Saguru smiled for a moment before being more exact. "How much further until we get wherever it was you were trying to get us?"

"About two miles."

His heart sank but he knew he wasn't going to like the answer, even if Kid had said two blocks. Saguru used the wall and tried to get to his feet, feeling them shake and knowing they wouldn't hold him. "Can you carry me that far?"

Kid put the gun back in his coat before nodding, crouching down so that Saguru could get on his back. The thief was still breathing hard from all the effort he'd put into getting them this far so Saguru might as well burden him more until they made it. Kid shifted him once he was up, taking off at something that might have constituted as a sprint if Kid would have had the strength for it.

Saguru let his head rest on the thief's shoulder, feeling the stupid costume piece hard under his cheek. Really. If his day couldn't get any worse. Now he could wind up dying by the hands of persons unknown chasing the Kid, dragging the thief down with him because he was too weak to catch his foe himself.

Maybe if Kid acted like the criminal everyone treated him as, he wouldn't have had a problem with that. Never once has Kid hurt anyone or let anyone else be hurt in his presence if he could help it. Never once has the thief ever stollen something and kept it for longer than a few days. Never once has the kaitou so much made a victim of any of his crimes except for criminals worse than he, that he's rooted out. It was no surprise that Saguru was having such a hard time letting himself fight this type of foe when he'd be just as happy, if not happier, letting him be.

The sudden stop of movement was enough to break him from his trance. Kid was knocking on the door of some place he hadn't seen in his delirium. Had the thief run the two miles already?

"Jii-chan..." The thief panted as the door was open, having it snick closed behind them after whoever was on the other side had identified Kid and let him in. Several locks were put into place and Kid collapsed onto the floor. Though he hadn't meant to, Saguru wasn't ready for it and he fell off, hitting his bad shoulder on the ground and screaming something that he bit off before it could travel.

"Sorry." Kid turned to him in the darkness. Either he could see without light or he knew the place well enough not to need his eyes, but he helped Saguru crawl over to a corner of the room where an alcove separated it from another part of the house or building they were in. The light in the adject room switched on as whoever had let them in went into it, leaving Saguru watching a steady stream of light enter the room he was currently occupying.

Kid shifted him more so that his injured side was in the light. "Can you make it in the other room so I can look at it?" Kid asked, panting through his words.

Saguru let out a sigh that was supposed to be a laugh. Forget moving, he wasn't about to stay awake any longer now that they were safe. He already felt sleep close in over him before he could do more than wonder what it was they were going to do now, if they were really safe.

**...**

**...**

"Don't move," a steady voice said into the brightness that had become his world now that he was awake again. Saguru tried to blink back the light but it burned, not letting his eyes adjust. "Just a little longer, Hakuba-san."

Kid. Kid was at his side but he didn't know more than that. The white light was burning enough that he had to figure he was either staring at the sun or had a light bulb in his face. It turned out it was the latter as Kid moved the adjustable lamp further off of him and onto himself. "Sorry. I didn't notice."

"What's-" Saguru had to cut himself off, hissing in pain. Kid stopped what he was doing and bent over to retrieve something from somewhere below him. Now that Saguru could see better, he could tell he was in a room, on a bed, and Kid was kneeling next to him, doing something or another to his arm. And it hurt - hurt worse than anything in his life that he could remember.

"Here. This should help with the pain." Kid took a needle, tieing a rubber band around his arm before injecting him with it. When he did, he noticed Kid's white gloves stained with red. "You're going to need to go the hospital. I thought the bullet had just gone through your arm, but it went in sideways, towards your chest. I don't know how deep it is."

Saguru nodded, taking the information into consideration. Yes, the hospital sounded good.

"Then why aren't I at the hospital now?"

Kid's eyes moved to meet his, completely shadowed with the light above his top hat. Indecision was written in his features, though his eyes only showed worry. "I'm afraid the people who were after me last night might think that you're... something more than you really are. If I took you to the hospital with the truth, then they would notice and be able to find you. If I waited until you woke up and you allowed me to feed you a false story to give to the doctors in a hospital further from here, then at least you'll be safe while you're recovering..." Kid trailed off.

"But not once they figure out that it was my house you were in."

"I didn't expect you to be home. Being overseas and one of my pursuers is hard to contradict... fleeing with me may lead them in a different direction."

"So I'll be in danger from these men trying to kill you." It was easy enough to figure out what it was that Kid was hinting at. "Because they might think I'm your partner."

"Unfortunately that looks to be the case." Kid stood up, posture stiff.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

Kid's eyes were hard, Saguru could see, now that he was shadowed normally by the dim light of the room. "If I were you, detective, I would go back to England and have nothing more to do with me. They can't suspect someone who isn't here."

"They also can't use someone who isn't here against you. That's what you mean."

Kid stiffened more, this time not because of sore muscles.

"Why is it that these men chasing you know more about you than the police? Wait. That's _not_ what I want answered. _Why are there men out there _trying to _kill_ you?" It had been bothering him since he'd first discovered what was going on and to hell if he was going to let this question slide. Guns had never been used against Kid. If the thief wasn't going to hurt others, than the police weren't going to draw a weapon on an unarmed man.

Someone, somewhere and for some reason, wanted Kid and they wanted him dead.

Kid sighed. It was more in the noise than anything that he could see that told him Kid was tired. Not tired like in you stayed up to late and forgot you have an appointment in the morning... Tired like you hadn't slept _at all_... for _days._ It was a point he never thought a teen could reach. There was tired, and then there was what he heard in just that breath of air from Kid. Weariness runs on so many levels and only a part of that sigh sounded physical.

How long had this been going on?

"I've made more than my fair share of enemies doing what I do. I'm surprise that fact shocks you so." Kid eyes blinked, but they were slow to open. Kid smiled to try and hide that fact.

And Saguru was tired too, be in from his body trying to recover for from the drugs that Kid had given him. But he couldn't sleep yet. There were still so many questions.

He would have liked just a few minutes where everything didn't go to hell.

Something broke. He wasn't sure what it was but it sounded like splintering wood impacting against a solid surface. He had to guess it was a door hitting the ground, but he was too groggy to be sure and his ears were ringing with fear.

Kid scared him just as much as the noise did. The thief was obviously had not expecting it and he spun to face what had to be the doorway to the room they were in. Saguru couldn't turn around to see, and he was sure the door was closed even if he could, if he was judging the lighting in the room correctly. Kid snarled something out, the noise far more terrifying than any threat.

Then the thief looked down at him, anger behind his initial snarl still there along with worry and emotions that were all too human. Kid didn't care about hiding anymore.

That though made the fear building in him escalate faster than it would have.

Kid let out a breath, getting his composure back- what he could regain anyway. There were obvious noises coming from the other room, loud enough and hurried enough to reach their ears. Kid looked pensive as he stood, trying to analyze the situation at hand better than Saguru could at the moment, still in too much shock and too tired to attempt it himself.

Something settled on Kid's features as he decided which actions needed to be taken. That made the fear in the room slowly reseed. Kid knew what he was doing.

The thief went to a corner of the room, to a large cabinet with multiple layers of drawers. He couldn't see what Kid was fumbling with but he clearly was in no rush. There were more sounds as a few other things were taken out of other draws until Kid was ready and back over at his side.

"Detective, I'm going to need you to stay quiet. I don't need the distraction."

Saguru nodded in understanding. He couldn't even get up. He wasn't planning on drawing attention to himself, from either Kid or his intruders, when he couldn't move.

Considering he couldn't turn either, he was only left to face either the thief or the opposite side of the room. Given those choices, it wasn't a hard decision. "What are you planning?"

"Don't worry, you'll be safe. Leave this to the professionals." Kid gave him a wink.

He could not understand where the kaitou got his confidence from. He was sure they were in a back room with no where to run nor hide. From the noise outside there were clearly multiple individuals in the house that, judging from earlier, were none to friendly. And yet Kid stood there - smiling. The thief must have found some escape to the situation that Saguru couldn't fathom.

The door being slammed open made him freeze, throat clogging up to prevent any noise of fear, choking on the sound.

"Don't move."

The voice was deep and hard- and yet help the tiniest bit of familiarity to it that Saguru turned to see who'd spoken. When he did he noticed that Kid was no longer aside the bed, the thief currently against the wall adjacent to the door and facing at least two or there men that Saguru couldn't see clearly.

It wasn't any visual disability, he just couldn't let his gaze wander from where it was currently set - on Kid who was facing the men with his shoulders up and pointing a gun at them... a _real_ gun.

The men seemed just as surprised. One out in front had a firearm of his own but not enough time to draw in order to counteract the thief. Kid's eyes were callous, his hands still and tight on the weapon. "Now you're going to go back out the way you came."

It was Kid's voice, but it was wrong. The deep-rooted strength and control behind the sound mixed with the anger that Kid carried with him since the minute he'd seen him last night. This was no deception for once. Kid's word, as the thief spoke, held nothing but truth.

There was something infinitely wrong about seeing the thief hold a gun, ready to take a life. It went against the very order of the world, or at least it did in his mind. Someone so non-violent should never be put in such a position. Saguru should have noticed what the thief was planning. After all, there was no way to escape other than this.

Making sure that it was no bluff, he stared harder at the weapon. The darkness hid most of Kids features but the gun was in the brighter light coming from the room they had entered through. It was a semi-automatic, most guns were, and black enough that he could only tell that it was a smaller handgun. There was no doubt it was either one of the greatest forgeries he'd ever seen, or it was real and Kid was about to break his own code if they didn't follow his directions.

The man in front, bigger than the two cloaking him, grinned at the thief with a mild shrug of his shoulder to show how much a threat he considered the other. "You wouldn't dare," the voice said, hard and raspy like that of a smokers.

"Try me." Kid never wavered. If anything his eyes became a few shades darker than they had been, but maybe that was the light.

The man raised his eyebrows, still grinning as if he'd won. He leveled his hand with the gun towards the thief.

It didn't make it halfway before Kid fired at point-blank range at the man's chest. The guy had enough time to lean against the wall before he fell, words sputters on his lips. The silence that followed after the loud crack of the gunshot was deafening.

"Now," Kid said, sweeping the gun in a sideways motion to the other two still in the doorway. "I think it's time that you left."

One of the men, the smaller of the two, tripped over himself before sprinting away. The second man glared back at Kid, snarling as he put his gun somewhere inside of his coat. "This isn't over."

Kid didn't answer him, following the calmer man. Saguru tired to get up but he couldn't. Even with all of that, it didn't change the fact that he was still in pain and still tired.

So he waited what felt like an eternity for Kid to return.

The thief was so silent that Saguru didn't even notice him enter the room, only the white of his outfit flashing startled him enough to take notice.

"Kid...?" He really didn't know what to say to the other... Kid had just killed someone. Sure it was in self defense and he'd plead that case over and over again because it was all too true, but it was Kid who had done it, and that dried up his words. The greatest pacifist on earth had just murdered someone.

"Yes?" Kid tipped his head to the side, smiling something less like the grin he normally wore, something far more average than his overzealous sneers.

"Are you okay?" That was definitely the question he wanted answered, though he hadn't meant to ask it aloud. Kid was the type of person to hide even the simplest things. Something like what had just happened would be locked behind several vaults worth of masks and then some.

"Of course. They didn't have a chance to injure me and my... coworker left out of here long before you woke."

"That's not what I meant."

Kid lost his smile though not his masks. The thief faced him in a state of neutrality that bordered on manikin-like. "I'm am alive, as are those I've protected. I am well enough."

"Kid that is not-" He winced, trying to ignore what an idiot move it was to use his injured arm to slam his fist on the bed. Once he was able to open his eyes again, he'd noticed that Kid's mask had slipped slightly, the thief's eyes regretful. "You know that's not what I meant."

Kid closed his eye and folded his arms in front of himself, taking deeper breaths to try and let a natural calm fall over him rather than this false one.

"Kuroba-kun..."

Kid's eyes shot open, startled and angry. Maybe it was a bad idea to draw his attention away from himself before the thief had time to accept what had happened but, if he had done that, he had a feeling that Kid's real self would be behind locked doors... maybe until they broke him.

"Kuroba-kun, it's not your fault. I understand the situation you were put in. There was no other choice." He would have liked to calm Kid down but a part of him still wasn't sure he was consoling the right person. He wouldn't be sure until Kid showed him his face and he was certain that wasn't going to be happening until Kid _believed_ that he'd been found out.

Kid closed his eyes again but his arms were shaking slightly against his chest.

"It was only a matter of time before one of us did it... Might as well have been me." Kid closed his eyes tighter and looked like he wanted to leave the room. The thief said nothing about the way he'd addressed him.

"Whether the man deserved it or not, we don't judge. You did it to protect yourself, and me, and I thank you for that."

"I'm the one who put you in danger," Kid growled out. He was sure the thief hadn't intended to say it that way, but you can only hold so many masks in place at the same time and still be human. "I should never have gone to your home. It was the nearest place and I had only meant to do it to get out of sight for a moment so they would lose me... all this... I hadn't planned on."

"If you had, I'd be worried." Saguru let himself smile, if only to lighten the air. He was still in shock himself, but he knew, on some deeper level, that what Kid had done had been what needed to be done. It was the detective part of him that told him that. The less analytical part of him was still somewhere in Kid's shoes, fighting against the loss of life.

Kid opened his eyes, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips as well, though the tears in his eyes made Saguru's own smile slip. "I'll be back, detective. I'm going to need some help with him and you're in no condition for it." Kid walked out of the room, further into wherever it was that they were.

Saguru laid his head down, letting his heart stop beating so fast. The drugs were still at work and the pain he'd caused himself had all but faded. There was a dead man behind him in the room, but he tired not to think about that- what it meant.

**...**

**...**

When he woke up he had to rub his nose, irritated by the new scent and shutting his eyes against the same blinding light.

After waking enough, he noticed several things that made him want to curse aloud, something he'd never considered doing in public before. The first was that Kid was gone and he wasn't likely to be seeing him, or having the conversation with him which Saguru desperately needed to do. The second thing he noticed, after his emotions had cataloged the first, was that he was in a hospital room.

There was the ever annoying beeping of a heart rate monitor at his side, follow by the quieter sounds of the television that was left on in the room. The curtains that hung over the windows were drawn and the door to his room was closed, the overhead light on and blinding him in the too pale room.

He was alone and angry. Angry because he'd never found out who those men were- because Kid was out there, right now, doing Kami knew what to himself and to the dead man - because, damn it all, he _hated _this television show.

Saguru laid there and waited for the doctor to come. He was injured badly enough that he knew he'd be stuck at the hospital for several days at least, a week or more if things wanted to further turn on him.

When he did that bloody idiot of a magician was not going to escape his grasp until he got some answers.

**...**

**...**

He'd come early before school started to try and get his hands on Kuroba but his luck held and both the magician and Aoko ran into class just as the bell had rung, panting and giggling like idiots.

"Take your seats, both of you." The teacher turned to the board before she was sure that they'd followed her orders, which they hadn't. Aoko batted Kuroba on the head, letting her giggles subside in time to look angry with him. It was only after that both of them went to their seats that class began.

Saguru tapped his fingers on his desk irritatedly. No one had wondered why he hadn't been in school due to the fact that he'd only just gotten back to Japan before... before _that_ happened. His shoulder was still hurting him but not enough to keep him in the house and pain medicine fought off most of it.

Lunch was no easier, seeing as Kuroba escaped not only him but Aoko as well. One second he was at his desk, playing with a sheet of notebook paper, the next he was simply gone. Both Aoko and he looked at the empty desk with confusion, Aoko deciding it was Kuroba trying to show off to either her or the class while Saguru's own suspicions only grew further. Kaito was back and in his seat before class stared again.

Judging by the magician's non-too-obviously aversion to him, Saguru knew catching the other was going to be difficult if not impossible. He hadn't proven anything against him. There was still the possibility of Kuroba not being Kid - but then, Kid would have said something, Kuroba wouldn't have had to hide from him. Either way, Kuroba and Kid both had the inhuman ability to slip away from almost anything.

So Saguru had done it first. Before their last class had ended, he'd excused himself to the washroom. He didn't really have to use it, but there were only so many ways to leave a building and he doubted Kuroba was planning on going out one of the windows and drawing further attention to himself... not that he would have put it passed the magician.

Waiting, Saguru settled himself near the front entrance. Hidden on the other side of the wall, there was no way that Kuroba would be able to see him. All he had to do was bide his time and hope that he was correct in assuming that Kaito's more flamboyant actions wouldn't take him out of his reach.

The bell for the end of school chimed.

There were hordes of students that rushed to get out of the building. Some remained behind, as he usually did, so that they didn't get caught up in the chaos. Aoko was one who waited for most of her classmates to leave as she slowly gathered her things and Saguru had seen Kuroba wait for her on every occasion.

Now was no different.

Aoko and Kuroba exited after the surge had become a trickle, talking quietly to one another as Aoko blushed and looked away while Kuroba giggled to himself.

He caught the back of the magician's collar and heard a small noise of strangulation while the other teen was forced to stop or hurt himself.

Aoko turned with wide eyes as Kuroba faced him.

"Oh, Hakuba-kun. Nice to see you're back." Aoko had a slight skip in her step as she took in the few feet that separated them. Any other day he would have encouraged this behavior from her, not only to be an underhanded blow at Kuroba, but because he honestly found himself attracted to the girl. When she smiled at him he had no other option than to smile back as he nodded her head to her in greeting.

"Hey, lemme go." Kuroba put his hands behind his head to try and break his grip but Saguru was having no part of that, grabbing the shirt underneath the black blazer as well, where the seam of the collar was. Unless Kuroba striped and did it fast, there was no way that he was escaping.

"I need to talk with you."

"My, don't we sound serious." Kuroba lidded his eyes. "And just what do you want with me?"

"I told you, didn't I? I need to talk with you. Now." He left now room for argument. This was not going to drag on. He had to know what had happened. Since his release from the hospital he'd heard nothing of anyone dying nor an unnamed corpse appearing. Those men, he was equally at a loss with. None of Kid's records had shown more than the appearance at one or two of his heists where gunfire was traded with an imposter.

Kuroba's eyes narrowed some more before he sighed. "Want to grill me some more? I told you, I'm not Kid. If you want to _actually_ talk to me about something, I'm sure Aoko doesn't mind sitting in."

"Is it that hard to have a ten minute conversation with me? Or are you afraid?"

Kuroba stiffened, lifting the corner of his lip. "Of course I'm not, you'll just be wasting both of our time and I don't feel like playing this game with you."

"Kaito," Aoko said quietly, eyes down and raising to meet the magician's. "Dad knows its not you and Hakuba-kun does too. You proved it."

"Right." Kuroba turned back, facing away from Aoko. "See? Now come on. My mom's waiting for me."

"Just a few questions. If you can't answer them, I'll accept it. I'm not asking for much of your time." This was one game that he knew he wasn't going to win and every twitch, ever word from Kuroba, showed that the other teen was the same as he always was. If hew as really Kid, he didn't think that his classmate would be so good at acting - international thief or not, a human is still a human.

"Fine." Kuroba's shoulders slump. "So? What did you want to ask?"

Saguru looked over at Aoko. The girl looked confused by his stare but said nothing. Kuroba watched the two of them before folding his arms and looking cross. "That private, eh? It's not about something that girl's shouldn't hear, is it? Because if it is I'd ask my doctor instead of me."

Saguru couldn't help flushing at the implication. "Of course it isn't!"

"Fine, fine." Kuroba waved him off and started walking to the other side of the school. "I'll catch you later, Aoko," the magician said louder as he waved over his shoulder. Aoko turned to Saguru and gave him a small, sideways smile, before walking away. That confused him but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

Kuroba leaned against the side of the wall when they were safely hidden away. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"You're not Kid? Is that the truth? I find it hard to believe all the evidence I gathered and my own observations were so wrong."

"Think what you want." Kuroba closed angry eyes and leaned his head against the wall with the rest of his body. His eyes were as dark in the shadows as Kids were, but that was no proof. "You know you can't be right all the time. Maybe the guy even knows who I am and is trying to set me up."

"Plausible, but it's equally as plausible that you could be lying to me. I don't plan on setting the police on you if you are. Kid's methods may be unorthodox but I don't disprove of them. If you are indeed him, you have nothing to fear for me."

"And because I'm not you're just going to keep bothering me with this all the time, neh?" Kuroba reached up and scratched his head. "I mean, give me a break already. I even came with you that last time."

"So you're not Kid."

He made sure Kuroba was facing him when he the other teen didn't seem to care, the magician did meet his eyes when he noticed he wanted him too. "I'm not Kid."

Saguru took his left hand, balled it into a fist, and punched Kuroba as hard in the arm as he could, holding back only slightly.

"Ow!" Kuroba was more startled than hurt, rubbing his arm were he'd probably have a good sized bruise the next day. "What did you do that for?"

"I don't see why you'd have any reservations now." Saguru raised his hand to his waist so that his one side, his injured side, was open. "Hit me back then."

Kuroba frowned, still rubbing his arm as he backed away a few steps. "You're crazy. What are you up to?"

"Nothing. I think it's only fair that if I hit you, you should be able to hit me back." He shrugged. "I won't stop you."

Kuroba's frown deepened but he did nothing, glaring at Saguru instead to show his anger.

"Or do you have reservations to hitting me? Maybe you know something that others don't."

"What? Because I don't want to hit you, you're proving I'm Kid?"

Something very not according to his plan happened after that. It could have been because he was confused and angry and so very very annoyed with the person in front of him but he took a few steps closer to Kuroba and punched him in the face.

The other teen feel to the floor, bringing a hand up to his cheek and glaring.

"Lie to me all you want then. Fine, you know what? I'll just figure it out on my own and when I do, do not think for a second I will share what I learn with you. It's clear that Kid, whether or not you're lying, didn't want this to go to the police. I don't know what story they were told but the doctors hadn't asked me a think when I woke up. To hell if I'm going to hide the truth from them if I'm going this alone."

They both stared angrily at each other before Saguru walked off, feeling a tug on the back of his pants after only a few steps.

"Wait, you can't-"

"Can't what?" Saguru turned to face the magician who had only gotten halfway to his feet. Kuroba let go, getting the rest of the way up.

"You can't tell them." His eyes were serious though the bruise already forming on his face lessened it's effect.

"And why not? Why do you care? You're not Kid after all!"

"I-" Kuroba gritted his teeth, hands clenching. "You just can't."

Saguru let out a breath as his anger fell away. That was all the proof he needed. No, the teen's own welfare didn't bother him, but the wellbeing of those around him sure did. Saguru had half-expected to be wrong about that and in a world of pain when Kuroba stuck back. But he hadn't. Only after Saguru started talking about delving into it himself, and bringing others with him, did he get the reaction he was looking for.

"I told you I wasn't planning on turning on you, so why couldn't you tell me the truth?"

Kuroba closed his eyes tight, shaking his head. "I didn't tell you anything, so don't go assuming. I just- think it would best that you didn't do whatever it was you were talking about."

Saguru swallowed hard. "And you're going to keep lying to me? I know you understood what I was talking about."

"Just drop it alright? I'm not Kid, you're not going to do anything, and we're gonna leave before people start wondering where we are." Kuroba walked past him, unable or unwilling - _seeing as he was not trying to pretend to be his counterpart_ - to hide his emotions.

"Kuroba-kun," Saguru grabbed onto his shoulder before the teen could get far. "I'm not worried about your secrets. I do want to know about those men, but I can handle settling the score with them myself. The only thing I wanted to make sure of was you, mentally speaking. I know what-"

"Shut up!" Kuroba shook his head, throwing Saguru's arm off. "Just shut up! I was fine, I AM fine! Just stop it!"

"You don't look very fine to me. In fact, knowing you I'd have to wager you were angry... and sad... and beyond confused because you're feeling angry and sad in a way you never have before, in a way you can't change."

"I said stop it!" Kuroba back away from him, obvious tears in his eyes that wouldn't fall and shaking like a leaf. The wild animal expression of pure terror was written across his features.

"Calm down." Saguru raised his hands in surrender. "I was trying to help, not hurt."

Kuroba took in a few breaths that were closer to pants than not. "Help with what? It's not like I can change anything. You said it yourself."

"No, you can't change it." Saguru lowered his hands. "What you have to do is accept it."

"I HAVE accepted it!"

Saguru frowned for a moment, looking at the other teen. His eyes widened in understanding before he let his mind wrap around new facts and started to speak. "Yes, it sounds like you have. I don't think that was a lie. I think, Kuroba-kun- The problem is that you haven't forgiven yourself for it."

"I-" Kuroba choked on his words, shaken as he took another step back. "Why should I?" The tears that were only in his eye fell down his cheeks now, noticeable even at a distance.

"You were given two choices, sit back while both you and I died, or to fight against someone ready and willing to take your life, who had sought _you_, not the other way around. Of those two, you made your choice - have accepted it. Why you won't forgive yourself for doing something you were practically forced into, I do not know."

"_I killed someone_." The words were growled out and the first real admission that could be used against the magician.

"Yes, you did." Saguru agreed. "Ergo, we are alive today to fight about it. Kuroba-kun, it was his life or mine, as I have no doubt you could have escaped on your own. You didn't. You chose to stay and by choosing to stay, you had to be prepared to defend yourself. I'm not saying that what you did is _morally_ right, but in all other accounts I can think of no better word for it."

"It is _never _right." Kuroba speaking like an animal was something he wasn't accustom too, the words more growls than anything human. "Killing, no matter how justifiable, _is wrong_."

"Then you should have held your finger and let me die."

Kuroba fidgeted, leering at him. "That would have been wrong too. Either way is wrong."

"Than what choice did you have?"

"None," Kuroba agreed, turning his head to face the ground somewhere off to his right. "Either way I'd damn myself, this way is just more bearable- but hell is still hell."

"Fine then. Torture yourself... just don't... _hide_ it. I know how very good you are at that."

Kuroba snorted, smiling again. "Yeah, as if I'd give the whole world more reason to suspect me. No one can know." The magician's eyes returned to his, cold and darker than they used to be. "If I could, I'd prefer it if you didn't know either. Seeing as I can't do that until I get my time machine fixed, I don't... I don't want you to talk about it."

"Cry."

Kuroba tilted his head towards him, eyes still dark and pained. "Huh?"

"I want you to cry. You want to, right? No ones here to see and if you break at your house I'm sure you'd scare your mother far worse than me, considering I know the reason. You can't hide something like this. It will eat at you far more than you think. Kid is easy to hide, considering _I_ wouldn't regret it if I were you. I don't want you... I don't want you to hurt because of actions you took for me."

"I didn't do it for you." Kuroba raised his arm to hide his eyes, roughly wiping away the tears as he backed up until he was against the school, where he let himself fall onto the grass. Saguru followed slowly, trying to be unobtrusive. "I didn't want- I didn't want _that_, but I didn't-" Kuroba sniffed, his breathing hitching now that he was letting himself feel.

"You don't need to explain yourself to me."

"But it's all because I went to your stupid house! I never should have done that! Why had I done that? I could have gone anywhere, I just didn't think- I hate it. I just... hate it. Why am I such an idiot? Why did that have to happen?" Kuroba sniffed between each pause, trying to keep himself quiet the best that he could in the state he was in.

"You went along with things as they happened. You were not the aggressor, Kuroba-kun."

"Yeah, yeah I am... was... am." Kuroba let out a broken-up laugh. "I'm such an idiot. It's all my fault."

"Well then," he said as he sat next to the magician. "Lets start bitting into me as well, shall we? Okay, let's see. It's my fault that you were slowed down and couldn't escape your pursuers. It's my fault they found your... '_coworkers' was it?_ house. It's my fault that you were forced to stay and protect me. Yes, the way I see it, everything was my fault."

Kuroba stopped his crying but it had been borderline hysterics, so there was a hitch in his voice when he spoke. "None of that was your fault-"

"The person who ties the noose is as guilty as the one who hangs them self from it, at least, that is your own logic that you're holding against yourself."

"I pulled the trigger."

"And I as good as forced the gun in your hand. Don't you see? Though all of our actions lead to what occurred, neither you nor I was the one who brought death into the situation. I saw those men. They didn't believe you would shoot whereas they would have killed both of us in a heartbeat without blinking."

"Yeah, they would have, but that doesn't matter. I was the one who fired."

Saguru sighed. He didn't think the magician could be so thick - or was the word in this case _nieve_? In either case he understood where Kuroba was dredging up all this self-hatred. The problem was trying to find a way to get him to stop.

"Kuroba-kun... I'm not asking you to pretend that you didn't do it. I would _never_ ask you to do something like that. What I want is for you to accept that it wasn't your fault. You may have killed him but he was the one who forced you into it. I doubt you blame people who shoot when there's an intruder in their home."

"Stop sounding so rational." Kuroba lowered one knee so he could rest his elbow and, by turn, his check on his hand. "You're making me start to believe it."

"Good."

Kuroba chuckled under his breath. "Thanks."

"Out of curiosity, what happened to the man?" He'd been avoiding asking that question but he couldn't leave without knowing the answer.

Kuroba shrugged. "You're guess is as good as mine. My... coworker helped and we took him to the nearest hospital where he'd be found. I was watching the news too. I don't think the hospital staff was negligent enough to miss a dead body."

"So?"

"So someone else picked him up before they found him. My guess is those people the bastard worked with did it, but I can't be sure."

"And... why were they trying to kill you?"

Kuroba was silent, the magician's eyes still on him though they grew hazy as he thought about what he was going to say.

"And don't lie to me."

"I wasn't. I was trying to think of a way to reword the truth so you be less inclined to cling to it."

"Look who you're talking to," Saguru said with a smirk of his own.

"I know." Kuroba grinned back. "Can you live with only the basics then?"

"It's better than where I'm at now."

Kuroba smiled, telling him about men who were after him in the shadows, that didn't like police interference. There was talk of the dangers these people were, and of how they were after something much the way Kid was, though Kuroba wouldn't tell him what it was.

"You know," Saguru spoke up. "They might come back to my house."

"I know. I've been watching."

Saguru looked closer at the magician and noticed how tired he was. "You don't have to."

"They're scared of me, for now. I don't think they'll try anything to you when they figure out who you are but I'd be watching my back for a while if I were you."

"Point taken. If there's anything I can help with, feel free to ask. If I can offer it, I will."

"I work better alone," Kuroba said, but he seemed to consider it. "Thanks."

Saguru stood up, letting the magician have some time alone for a while. He needed it. "You've no reason to thank me," Saguru said. The detective couldn't help looking back over his shoulder one last time and smiling, "It's all my fault, remember?"


End file.
